MINES- My Last Patrol

We had picked an ambush site 2 kilometers, "klicks", from our daytime position. We moved out an hour before dark. We used one of the many old tank trails left by the 5th Mech. when they worked the area. As was our norm I walked 3rd in line. We reached our nite spot and I directed Sgt Latham to move off the trail about 30 yards and into the waist high "saw grass". As we reached that point he made a right turn so as to make our line parallel to the trail. I had dropped my ruck and was talking to each squad member as they passed. My RTO was standing next to me when there was an explosion and I found myself laying flat on my back about 10 feet from where I had been. I stood and moved back to where my rucksack lay. Whimpy was on the ground unconsious. My left hand was numb, bleeding and bent back. I could not see from my left eye and could see blood on my fatigue shirt. I sat on my ruck as Sgt. Harvey came running in from the trail. He had been walking rear security and had not been in the blast area. Neither of us knew what had happened but I told him to check everybody.

As he moved off, I reached down to the radio on Whimpy's back and picked up the handset. I called the CO and told him we had been hit and that all packs were down. His immediate response was for me to change to the battalion radio frequency and call for med-evac. Before I could do that I heard urgent radio calls from my other two squads saying they had heard the explosion and my radio transmission and were on the way to us. In minutes I had contacted med-evac and they were on the way. I also could hear the other squads approaching, calling out in the dark to let us know who and where they were.

As I sat there, Sgt Harvey returned to say that Latham, Doc and Raymer were down hard and that he was not sure if Doc and Raymer would make it. As we spoke the other squads moved in and began setting up security and providing what medical aid they could. I heard th med-evac copters approaching and they called wanting to know the type of contact we had been involved in and how long ago. I told them that we had hit a mine or boobytrap and that we had the LZ secured. With that Sgt. Harvey turned on his strobe light and moved to the trail.

I sat and watched as the 1st bird landed, watched as my platoon members were loaded aboard and then watched the bird lift and move away. My thoughts were "Wait, I'm hurt too", but before I knew it a second bird sat down and I was being carried aboard. Sgt. Latham had also been put on the same bird. As we flew towards Camp Evans I felt no pain and could only hope that I would live.

Upon landing we were rushed inside the evac aid station and all my clothes were cut off. A medic was doing a quick check on me and I could see blood coming from holes in my chest and stomach. There was also blood between my legs. I asked him if everything was ok "down there"? With a pull and quick look he laughed and said "Yeah man, everything still there". I was having a hard time breathing and within minutes I was back on a copter headed to the 85th EVAC hospital near Hue. The doors on the copter were open and being naked I became very cold. I asked the medic for a blanket and told him I wanted to sleep. He told me that he had to keep me awake til we landed and that being cold would slow my blood loss.

We landed and I was rushed into a building. A doctor looked me over and sent me to x-ray. They lifted me onto the table and the medics moved me around for different x-ray shots. I felt weak and then vomited. It was thick, foamy and dark red. I looked at the x-ray tech and knowing he would have to clean up my mess, told him that I was sorry. His reply was " Hell man, you're the hurt one, don't worry!" I was moved into an operating room and put under.

I awoke the next day to see my older brother standing at my bedside. He was a navy corpman attached to the marine corp at Da Nang. The night before in the aid station I had given the 1st sgt my wallet and asked him to call my brother. There I lay with tubes in my nose, side and other parts. He had his arm in a sling and my first words were " What the hell happened to you?"

Of course his words were not to worry about him, but to worry about myself. ( I later learned that while driving an ambulance down Monkey Mountain at night with a patient, he had run off the road.)

Sgt. Latham was at the same hospital. He improved and was shipped home. The others had been flown elsewhere. I was visited by the first sgt and told of Raymer's death. I really was saddened by his death because he had a new son that he would never see. I also thought that "Doc" Crum had died, but have not been able to find him listed on the "Vietnam Memorial Wall". I have seen Raymers name there.

I stayed at the 85th Evac Hospital for 2 weeks. Then I was transported to the military hospital at Camp Zama, Japan for 2 more weeks. I was then transported to Womack Army Hospital, Ft Bragg, NC. My stay there was over a period of 4 months. I was in and out having surgery.